In 2021, consumers spent $133 billion on native mobile apps, which is an increase of 20% over the previous year. These numbers show why more and more businesses are turning to native mobile app development for their products and services. By creating a mobile application, a company can communicate and engage with its customers directly to increase brand awareness, provide practical marketing channels, and provide convenience to customers.
Android and iOS are the two major mobile platforms.
There are significant differences in the process and the outcome you can expect when you publish native applications on iOS or Android (through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, respectively). This is crucial to understand since the vast majority of mobile applications and many other applications run on these platforms.
While iOS is a closed system, Android is an open system allowing users to customize their devices. The two operating systems have different voice assistants and use different app stores. Despite the larger audience of Google Play, Apple App Store users tend to spend more on the platform on average.
Benefits of using Native Mobile Apps
By using native mobile apps, businesses can benefit a lot. Here is a detailed overview of some of those benefits:
- Speed
Compilations are made using the platform’s specific programming language, which allows the device to store the app and utilize the device’s processing speed, allowing the app to load much faster and run faster.
- Access to Software Development Kits (SDK)
By gaining access to SDKs, developers can accelerate the development process and maintain up-to-date knowledge of the latest features.
- Easy to debug
When compared to other types of apps, like hybrids or web apps, native apps are easier to fix. Because native applications are not developed using cross-platform mobile tools (like Cordova or Xamarin), you are not forced to use a bridge to gain access to the device or hardware.
- Easy to find developers
Thanks to the popularity of iOS and Android, there are plenty of developers specializing in creating native mobile apps. This is especially true for Android, since it is an open-source community, with much flexibility, and exciting tools for development.
- Easy to implement UX/UI
One of the main benefits of native apps is the user experience (UX). Guidelines for platforms such as iOS or Android have been developed to enhance the user experience, and you can easily implement them to develop user interfaces (UI) that are clean, smooth, and simple to use.
Alternative tools for native app development
With React Native, developers can develop native mobile apps using JS. Using the same codebase, you can build an application for multiple platforms.
For most apps that heavily rely on the user interface, React Native app development is ideal because it is possible to get the user interface to work both on iOS and Android with little effort.
Additionally, React Native apps use flexbox for layout, which works the same way on iOS, Android, and the web, so you don’t have to learn multiple engines.
Flutter is another alternative. The Flutter SDK enables developers to develop mobile, desktop, and web apps for cross-platform development across multiple platforms. The platform comes with a framework, widgets, and tools that can be used to develop mobile apps in an efficient manner.
Flutter is open-source software; its SDK is based on a Dart programming language and uses a C++ rendering engine. It allows you to create mobile apps that work across multiple platforms.
Overall, native app development is beneficial when building single-platform apps and taking advantage of unique and complex features. Developing a non-native app, on the other hand, is suitable for cross-platform apps or apps that don’t need access to specific devices.